Along with SDN, the project will also leverage other new-age technologies, such as network functions virtualization (NFV), in virtualizing and linking Vodafone's global datacenters said Nuage, the SDN-focused unit of Nokia.

Nuage, chosen by Vodafone for the project, said the partnership will involve multiple efforts designed to improve Vodafone's network automation, virtualization and cloud infrastructure.

To do that, Nuage will apply its Virtualized Service Platform (VSP) -- designed for large enterprises and service providers -- to the network transformation project.

"The Nuage Networks Virtualized Service Platform (VSP), which will be at the heart of the Vodafone deployments, is the only network virtualization, SDN and automation solution offering a single framework to provide policy-based automation across both the datacenter and WAN," Nuage said in a statement this week.

"It empowers customers to transform their IT and build truly automated and agile application delivery and cloud networks," the company continued. "The end-to-end policy-based automation provided by VSP, across datacenter, WAN sites and public cloud providers, delivers synergy across network offerings, such as MPLS VPN and hybrid WAN services as well as hosted cloud services, by leading service providers such as Vodafone and other large cloud providers."

Another part of the pact will see Nuage helping out Vodafone with a VPN+ live pilot project, designed to showcase the benefits of SD-WAN in NFV and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

"The Vodafone VPN+ architecture is a next-generation virtual private network (VPN) that is enhanced using SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV) to increase performance and keep hardware requirements to a bare minimum," Nuage exec Gary Kinghorn said in a blog post. "VPN+ automates and simplifies deployment and incident management processes, while providing information about multiple parameters (analytics, performance and security monitoring)."

The move is yet another in a string of SDN-based partnerships formed by by Nuage. In the still-maturing SDN space, Vodafone has also been active in forming various joint initiatives. For example, at the recent Mobile World Congress show, Juniper Networks announced that Vodafone selected it as a vendor partner to provide its Contrail Networking SDN solution to the carrier's customers.